Comments on: Inner Companion

By: Benjamin Joseph Jancewicz

Benjamin Joseph Jancewicz — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:10:58 +0000

While Jung was right about the Mista’peo, he was wrong about the Naskapi having “no religious teachers who tell him what he should believe, no rituals, festivals, or cults to help him along.”

The Naskapi believed in God, whom they called Cha-mindo. Cha-mindo talked to the Mista’peo, most commonly through dreams. There were also shamans, who carried out the work of paying close attention to Cha-mindo and interpreting dreams.
They also had rituals and festivals; down to special paintings on hunting coats.

Another note; if you want some real pictures of Naskapi people, check out this gallery. http://zerflin.com/ZenPhoto/index.php?album=naskapi%2Fpeople
The Naskapi were bitter enemies of the Eskimos (whom you have pictured) for a very long time.

By: Steven Stolpman

Steven Stolpman — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 17:38:13 +0000

I remember talking to ghosts and dead relatives as a child. I’m told this is a very common experience among children and then it stops. I guessed it was a developmental change. In this case, that early experience is assimilated into a lifelong world-view. I was socialized out of that experience, but yet encouraged to pray for the dead by my Catholic grandmother. If I were Buddhist, I could talk to them and pray to them for help. So, that said, it sounds like these people are in a vacuum, but there must be some social agreement about their world-view, otherwise they wouldn’t be the Naskapi.

By: Alasdair Munn

Alasdair Munn — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 16:57:30 +0000

Nice post. Somehow this makes sense to me. When I say somehow, it just does, there is no articulating it beyond that.

Our ego is so self centred we don’t even listen to our own innate wisdom.